More than 1,500 Capitol employees are hoping to receive an “extra” Christmas bonus this month but there are no guarantees or orders for one yet.
The 2015 Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) of one-month’s salary, was already released early.
One half was given in May and the other half in November.
“We call anything given in December a Christmas bonus. The PEI was already given earlier this year, so they can’t expect to receive anything this month,” Budget Officer Danilo Rodas told Cebu Daily News.
The Capitol allotted P32 million for the PEI in 2015, given to 1,532 employees.
The one-time cash bonus is given nationwide to qualified government workers this year at P5,000 or one-month pay for 2015 under Executive Order 181 issued by President Aquino.
Local governments with enough funds can pay out one month’s salary as PEI if they met requirements for Financial Good Housekeeping. Otherwise the amount would only be P5,000 each. It’s up to the LGU when to release the amount as long as it is given not earlier than June 1 under the executive order.
Capitol employees in Cebu also received P15,000 each in August from the provincial government as the Collective Negotiation Agreement (CNA) bonus during the 446th founding anniversary of the province of Cebu.
Cash bonuses are usually timed for the end of the year by the local government. By tradition, employees hope for extra cash in December.
“This year, the Office of the President through the DBM ordered that the PEI be given in July. That would depend on the LGU. It would have been okay to give it in December but but the fact that we were mandated to release it in July and funds were already there, why would we delay?” explained Rodas.
Identified bonuses are part of the annual budget. Anything extra would need a supplemental budget, he said.
“There are rumors that there may be another bonus this month but as far as the DBM is concerned, there isn’t any,” he said.
He said Gov. Hilario Davide III can’t decide to give out bonuses on his own but needs a mandate from the DBM.
The national government is trying to work out a productivity-based bonus to be given in December.But Rodas said the plans are still at a national level and don’t include LGUs outside Metro Manila yet.
In one Capitol flag ceremony, Davide already announced that the province may no longer release a bonus in December. Rodas said some employees may have taken it as a joke, but the governor meant it.